


i could even learn how to love

by arielmagicesi



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, technically shower sex but it's very briefly summarized
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-29 00:09:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7662535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arielmagicesi/pseuds/arielmagicesi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They've been waiting all week for the heat to break, and finally there's a summer storm. But Opal is afraid of thunder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i could even learn how to love

**Author's Note:**

> This was partially inspired by a song from Steven Universe called "Learn to Love." I love Steven Universe, and this song made me think of Pynch, but you don't have to know anything about the show or the song to read this fic. However, they are both mentioned in the fic (Opal is a fan of the show because I think she would be).

“There’s gonna be a storm tonight,” Ronan said. “At least, I hope.”

Adam was sprawled out over the couch, watching cartoons with Opal, who was sitting on the floor next to the couch with her head thrown back. The August heat in Virginia was unbearable. At least, Adam thought, the Barns had air conditioning, which was more than he could say for where he’d lived last summer.

“Kerah,” Opal whined. “Put more ice on my head.”

Ronan closed the door, where he’d been looking out on the fields, and went to the kitchen to fetch some ice from the fridge, not without complaining. He brought back a cup of ice water which he dumped unceremoniously on Opal’s head. She shrieked in surprise.

“Who’s gonna dry out the carpet later?” Adam asked.

“It’s a million fucking degrees, it’ll evaporate,” Ronan said, before lying down on the couch opposite to him. He was sweaty from working out in the fields, and Adam made a face.

“Gross,” he said. “Take a shower.”

“I’m tired,” Ronan said. “What the fuck are you guys watching?”

“Steven Universe,” Opal said, gesturing at the screen. It was one of her favorite shows, and Adam had had to sit through five hours of it once, until the theme songs were drilled into his brain for the rest of eternity. He put up with it, though- he found it incredibly strange and nice, the idea of a kid watching TV and picking out favorite shows and playing, carefree, throughout the summer.

“Not again,” Ronan groaned, and closed his eyes.

“I like it,” Opal insisted, and threw an ice cube at Ronan.

Adam lay back and smiled while Ronan and Opal engaged in a mini ice-cube fight. In the background, the end theme for Steven Universe played- a soft, lilting love song.

“Want me to make dinner?” he asked, when Opal had gone back to watching her show in peace and Ronan had collapsed back against the couch.

“No, it’s too hot to make dinner,” Ronan said. “We’ll just order in takeout.”

“Lazy,” Adam muttered.

“I’m the one who was working outside all day.”

“What do you think I was doing? I was at work all day.”

“Shhh!” Opal hissed. “I can’t hear anything.”

Ronan leaned across the couch and said close to Adam’s ear, “You should rest, anyway. Let’s just order in pizza.”

“OK,” Adam said. “Get off me, you’re getting your gross sweat all over me.”

“Asshole,” Ronan said, and sat back on his side of the couch.

So Ronan ordered pizza, and Opal ate it sideways like she always did, and they took Opal to bed at 8 when she started falling asleep on the floor, exhausted from the heat. Ronan read another chapter of _The BFG_ to her, the chapter with a wall full of bottled dreams, and Opal curled up against her pillow and drifted off to sleep.

Adam dragged Ronan into the shower, where they relieved all the tension of the day against each other under the cool water. Ronan bit Adam’s shoulder to keep from being too loud, and all their sweat and heat melted away.

When they got out of the shower, they could hear that it had begun to stream rain outside, and Ronan let out a breath. “Finally.”

They’d been waiting all week for the heat to break.

It was still hot out, when Ronan opened the windows to listen to the rain. Adam collapsed onto the bed, pulling on a clean pair of shorts, and sighed.

“This is nice,” he said quietly.

Ronan climbed onto the bed next to him.

“What’s nice?” he asked.

“The rain,” Adam said. “Nice and quiet. Like a lullaby.”

“What are you talking about? It’s pouring out there.”

“It _feels_ quiet,” Adam said, too tired to elaborate. He rolled over to face Ronan and grabbed Ronan’s hand. “You feel quiet,” he whispered.

Ronan turned his head to face Adam.

“Are you happy?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Adam said, then startled a little at how immediate the response had been. But he _was_ happy. He was happy at work, knowing that every dollar he made went only to him, and that soon he would be at college. He was happy playing with Opal and seeing her laugh and light up and grow taller. He was happy here, lying in bed next to Ronan, hands in each other’s hands, listening to the rain.

Ronan reached his free hand up to stroke the side of Adam’s face. After the relief of the long, tiring, hot day breaking into a cool night, they were both tired and affectionate.

“I’ve never been happier,” he said, looking into Adam’s eyes. “I love you.”

Adam felt something twist and untwist inside him.

It was a great and terrible thing, to be loved so much. He hadn’t had a lot of practice with it. He hadn’t known that it could be like this.

Every so often he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

“I love you too,” he said, and leaned closer to kiss Ronan.

When they fell asleep, Adam was thinking about definitions and theories, poetry and paradoxes, what it was to be in love.

 

A thunderclap shocked Adam and Ronan awake.

“Fucking Christ,” Ronan gasped.

Adam shook his head, foggy from sleep. “You- you OK?” he mumbled.

“Ah, yeah,” Ronan said, blinking. “Jesus. I didn’t know the storm was- was gonna be this bad.”

Ronan was shaking a little, and Adam said, “You sure you’re OK?”

He grabbed at Adam and pulled him in closer, movements blunt and half-awake.

“Yeah,” he said. “Thought I was in a nightmare for a second. Thunder is a bad fucking sign in the dream world.”

“Oh,” Adam said, and reached his arms up to wrap around Ronan’s back. “Well, you’re not in a nightmare.”

“I know that, genius,” Ronan said, sarcasm well-played but imperfect.

Adam pressed a kiss to Ronan’s neck, gentle, and Ronan’s eyes closed.

Then there was a violent banging on their door. They jumped up.

“Kerah! Kerah! Adam!” shouted a frantic voice from the other side.

“Shit,” Adam said, instantly running to the door and flinging it open. Opal was standing there in the oversize t-shirt she wore to bed, face red and tearstained, looking terrified.

Adam sank down to the floor and said quickly, “Opal, what’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “The loud noises- they’re- they’re yelling-”

She reached out her arms desperately and Adam wrapped her in a careful hug.

“Shhh,” he whispered. “It’s OK. It’s just thunder. It’s nothing scary.”

Ronan was kneeling next to them, and he stroked Opal’s hair, the way he did when she got sick or injured.

“It’s just some weird shit in the sky that can’t hurt you,” he said. “It’s not going to do anything. I promise, Opal.”

She sniffled against Adam’s chest, her hands curled into little fists, and Adam just wanted to protect her against every fear.

“Do you want to sleep with us tonight?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Opal said.

“OK. Do you want me to get Alice for you?” Alice was the name of the stuffed dolphin she slept with every night.

“I’ll get her,” Ronan said. “And I’ll get you some water, too, and your blanket.”

“Yeah,” Opal said again, voice still a little broken up by tears.

Ronan kissed the top of her head, whispered something quiet in her ear which made her laugh shakily, and got up to go fetch Alice.

Adam picked Opal up and sat on the bed, with her curled up in his lap. Thunder struck again, quieter this time, and Opal shrieked and shuddered.

“Shhh,” Adam said, stroking her hair and holding her tight. “Everything is OK. I promise. You’re safe. You’re not there anymore. You’re here with me.”

“I’m scared,” Opal said.

“I know,” Adam said. “But you’re safe. I promise.”

He knew well enough the difference between knowing that the danger was far away, and not being scared of it anymore.

He rocked her gently in his arms, and she said, “Adam. Could you sing a song?”

“Hmm?” he said. “Like a lullaby?”

“Yeah, a quiet song.”

“Oh, uh- OK,” he said. He didn’t know any lullabies. Ronan had sung him an Irish lullaby a few months back, as a joke, but he couldn’t remember the words. He dug around in his brain for a song that would work and hit on the first thing that came to mind- the song from the end of the Steven Universe episodes, the one that had gotten stuck in his head all day.

Softly, trying not to be self-conscious, he began to sing: “ _If I could begin to be/ half of what you think of me/ I could do about anything/ I could even learn how to love…_ ”

Ronan walked back into the room, holding a glass of water, and Opal’s blanket and stuffed dolphin, and Opal said, “Keep singing.”

Adam glanced up at Ronan and then sang the other half of the song: “ _When I see the way you act/ wondering when I’m coming back/ I could do about anything/ I could even learn how to love, like you…”_

Ronan sat down next to them, offering Opal the water, which she drank slowly, and Adam sang the song over again- he only knew the first few lines. He hated singing in front of people- it was too much of an act, too much something that an Aglionby boy would do for attention. But if Opal wanted him to sing her to sleep, he was fine with it.

The thunderstorm was slowing down outside- one of those summer storms that came in a flash and left just as fast- and left behind only the cool rain.

Opal finished sipping at her water and grabbed Alice, hugging her and resting against Adam.

“Do you want to go to sleep anytime?” Ronan asked.

Opal made an indignant noise and hugged Alice tighter. Then she stuck her tongue out at Ronan. Adam laughed.

“Thank God,” he said, releasing a breath.

“Adam,” Ronan said quietly, and Adam looked over at him. He looked slightly worried.

“Yeah?” Adam asked.

“Are _you_ OK?” he asked.

Adam hadn’t been thinking about that, preoccupied with taking care of Opal, and he realized that he’d been knotted up with worry.

“Yeah,” he said, taking another deep breath. “I was just so worried about her.”

“I’m OK!” Opal said insistently. Then, as if to prove it, she scrambled off of Adam’s lap with Alice and settled herself in the middle of the bed.

“Well, you recovered quick,” Ronan said, smiling. He put his arm around Adam and said, quiet so Opal didn’t overhear, “You’re so good with her, you know.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Adam said in response.

“I’m just saying. You’re so…” Ronan sighed, irritated at having to say it. “Loving.”

In the rainy August night, in the safety of their bed, Adam felt an almost unbearable happiness wash over him. Then it washed back, leaving only the tranquility of knowing that he knew how to love.

He kissed Ronan. Opal, luckily, had her eyes closed already, or she likely would have shouted out that they were being gross and yucky.

“And,” Ronan said, close, when they broke apart, “you have a beautiful voice.”

“Shut up,” Adam said, face warming, and kissed him again.


End file.
